the British Museum. He assisted his old schoolfellow, Henry Fielding, who in return dedicated ‘Tom Jones’ to him in 1749, and declared (preface) that the name of his patron would be a sufficient guarantee for his decency. Lyttelton also helped Edward Moore in the establishment of the ‘World’ (1753–6). He procured for Archibald Bower [q. v.] the keepership of Queen Caroline's library, and appointed Joseph Warton his domestic chaplain. Other literary friends were Glover, James Hammond, and Shenstone, who placed an inscription to him at the Leasowes. Horace Walpole seldom lost an opportunity of sneering at Lyttelton, and Lord Hervey evidently did not appreciate him. Smollett, besides writing an unfeeling burlesque of Lyttelton's ‘Monody,’ made offensive allusions to him in ‘Roderick Random’ and ‘Peregrine Pickle’ (where Lyttelton is caricatured as Gosling Scragg), for which, however, he subsequently apologised. Johnson's dislike to Lyttelton, which shows itself in the ‘Lives of the Poets,’ has been attributed to their rivalry for the good graces of Miss Hill Boothby [q. v.] (Autobiography of Mrs. Piozzi, 1861, i. 32–4). The character of ‘a respectable Hottentot’ in Chesterfield's ‘Letters’ was probably intended for Lyttelton.
Lyttelton rebuilt Hagley, 1759–60, with the assistance of Saunderson Miller of Radway, Warwickshire, an amateur architect (Harris, Life of Lord Hardwicke, ii. 456–7). The beauties of the place have been described in Thomson's ‘Spring’ (The Seasons, 1744, lines 900–58), Dr. Pococke's ‘Travels’ (i. 223–30, ii. 233–6, Camd. Soc.), and Horace Walpole's ‘Letters’ (ii. 352). The ‘very affecting and instructive account’ of Lyttelton's last illness and death, quoted by Johnson in his ‘Life of Lyttelton,’ was written by Lyttelton's physician, Dr. Johnstone of Kidderminster, to Mrs. Montagu, and printed in ‘Gent. Mag.’ for December 1773 (xliii. 604).
Lyttelton married first, in June 1742, Lucy, daughter of Hugh Fortescue of Filleigh, Devonshire, and his second wife, Lucy, daughter of Matthew, first baron Aylmer, by whom he had one son, Thomas, who succeeded him as second baron Lyttelton [q. v.], and two daughters, viz. Mary, who died an infant, and Lucy, who married, on 10 May 1767, Arthur, viscount Valentia, afterwards first earl of Mountmorris, and died leaving issue in 1783. Lyttelton's first wife died on 19 Jan. 1747, aged 29, and was buried at Over Arley, Staffordshire. He married secondly, on 10 Aug. 1749, Elizabeth, daughter of Field-marshal Sir Robert Rich, bart. [q. v.] Unlike the first, the second marriage was unhappy, and they subsequently separated. Lady Lyttelton survived her husband many years, and died on 17 Sept. 1795.
Portraits of Lyttelton and his first wife, by Sir Joshua Reynolds and John M. Williams respectively, were exhibited at the Loan Collection of National Portraits at South Kensington in 1867 (Cat. Nos. 338, 335). A portrait of Lyttelton by an unknown painter is in the National Portrait Gallery. He appears in the celebrated caricature called ‘The Motion,’ which was published in February 1741 (Cat. of Prints and Drawings in the Brit. Mus. vol. iii. pt. i. pp. 369–72), and there are engravings by Dunkarton and others after a fourth portrait by Benjamin West.
Lyttelton was author of: 1. ‘Blenheim,’ a poem on the Duke of Marlborough's seat, London, 1728, fol., anon. 2. ‘An Epistle to Mr. Pope, from a young gentleman at Rome,’ London, 1730, 8vo, anon. 3. ‘The Progress of Love,’ in four eclogues, London, 1732, fol., anon.; London, 1732, fol. The first of these eclogues was dedicated to Pope, by whom they were corrected for the press. They ‘cant,’ says Johnson, ‘of shepherds and flocks, and crooks dressed with flowers’ (Johnson, Works, xi. 380). 4. ‘Advice to a Lady,’ a poem, London, 1733, fol., anon. 5. ‘Observations on the Life of Cicero,’ London, 1733, 8vo, anon.; 2nd edit. London, 1741, 8vo, anon. 6. ‘Letters from a Persian in England to his friend at Ispahan,’ London, 1735, 8vo; 5th edit. 1774, 12mo. Printed in the first volume of Harrison's ‘British Classicks’ in 1787 and 1793, London, 8vo. Four of these letters which appear in the earlier editions are omitted in the third edition of Lyttelton's ‘Miscellaneous Works.’ 7. ‘Considerations upon the Present State of our Affairs at Home and Abroad, in a Letter to a Member of Parliament from a Friend in the Country,’ London, 1739, 8vo; 2nd edit. London, 1739, 8vo. 8. ‘To the Memory of a Lady [Lucy Lyttelton] lately deceased: a Monody,’ London, 1747, fol., anon.; 2nd edit. London, 1748, fol. 9. ‘Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul. In a Letter to Gilbert West, Esq.,’ London, 1747, 8vo, anon.; 9th edit. London, 1799, 8vo; a new edition, London, 1799, 12mo; other editions, Edinburgh, 1812, 12mo; Edinburgh, 1821, 12mo; London [1868], 8vo; London [1879], 8vo. It was frequently attached to Gilbert West's ‘Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ,’ and was translated into French by l'Abbé Guénée, 1754, 12mo; by Jean Deschamps, 2nd edit. 1758, 12mo. According to Johnson, ‘infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer’ to this treatise.
